CONTENTS Preface 12 PART I Excellence and Advantages of Menial Prayer. 1. Excellence of Prayer 13 II. First and Second Advantage of Prayer! It Ensures our Salvation and Enriches us with Numerous Merits 16 III. Third Advantage of Prayer: It Leads to Christian Perfection 21 IV. Fourth Advantage of Prayer: It Causes the Soul to Taste Spiritual Joys Incomparably Superior to All the False Pleasures of the World 28 V. Fifth Advantage of Prayer: It Gives Apostolic Works their True Fruit 32 PART II The Principal Acts of Prayer. I. Preparation for Prayer 37 II. The First Act: That of Placing Oneself in the Presence of God, which must never be Omitted in Beginning Meditation 43 III. Second Preliminary Act: Adoration 49 IV. Third Preliminary Act: Petition to the Holy Ghost for Grace 52 V. Exercise of the Imagination and of the Sensitive Appetite 56 VI. Exercise of the Memory and Understanding 59 VII. The Acts of Faith, the most Perfect of the Acts which the Intellect can Make in Prayer 63 VIII. Why Acts of the Will are more Important than those of the Understanding 67 IX. The Act of Hope 71 X. Charity or Pure Love of God Consists in Desiring Every Kind of Good Thing for God, because He is Infinitely Worthy of it on Account of His Infinite Perfections 78 XI. A Soul in which there is the Pure Love of Charity strives furthermore towards Union with God, so as to no longer Live for Itself but for God 83 XII. Charity is a Love not only out of Benevolence, but also of Friendship between God and the Just Man 89 XIII. Charity Requires that we Love God above all Things 94 XIV. How the Two Kinds of Love — Affective and Effective — should be Exercised during Prayer 98 XV. We must Consider God as our Supreme Benefactor in order to Gain a Love of Him 102 XVI. To Obtain the Love of God we must Regard Him as the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all Things 110 XVII. To Obtain the Love of God we must Look upon God as our Best Friend 114 XVIII. To Gain the Love of God we must Consider Him as the Best of Fathers 121 XIX. In Course of Prayer we should make Acts of Pure Love, Benevolence and Friendship not only towards God in His Divine Nature, but also towards the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ our Lord, and especially towards Jesus Crucified 127 XX. The Sorrowing Love of Contrition 138 XXI. Adoration and Thanksgiving 141 XXII. How Prayer Properly so-called, or Petition, Ensures Salvation 146 XXIII. Prayer must be Humble, Confident and Persistent, if it is, without Fail, to secure Salvation 151 XXIV. Prayer for Temporal Favors is Good, but not Infallible 157 XXV. Different Ways of Praying 160 XXVI. The Circumstances in which Petition is especially Fitting 166 XXVII. Oblation 170 XXVIII. The End of Meditation 174 XXIX. Reflection 176 XXX. The Time, Duration, Place and Posture most Fitting for Meditation 179 PART III Affective Prayer, I. The Nature of Affective Prayer 185 II. The Advantages and Dangers of Affective Prayer 194 III. How far may Affective Prayer be Simplified? 206 IV. Frequent Elevation of the Heart to God 209 PART IV Difficulties in Prayer. CHAPTER PAGE I. First Difficulty: Distractions 219 II. Second Difficulty: Dryness of Soul 221 III. Third Difficulty: Weariness 227 IV. Fourth Difficulty: Discouragement and Want of Perseverance 232 V. Fifth Difficulty: To Learn how to Meditate 235 VI. Sixth Difficulty: Inability to Follow a Course of Reasoning 244 PART V Methods of Prayer in the Exercises of St, Ignatius. I. The Method of Contemplation and its Perfection 255 II. The General Method of Contemplation Applied Particularly to the Mysteries of Our Lord's Life 265 III. Method of Prayer Entitled Application of the Five Senses 283 IV. Method of Prayer Entitled the Second Method of Prayer 291 V. Method of Prayer Entitled the Third Method of Prayer 297 VI. The Annotations of the Exercises 300 VII. The Additions of the Exercises 312 Digitized by Google.

"Principal editions cited": p. [6]

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